Chamber choir “Fortis” was created in St. Petersburg in 2008 by Ekaterina Andreeva, the permanent artistic Director and conductor of the choir. The team members are people of various professions: teachers, doctors, lawyers, musicians and businessmen. All of them made their first musical steps being in different years singers of the Children’s choir Capella under the leadership of Lev Ansheles.
Despite the amateur status, the “Fortis” musicians manage to maintain a high level by performing complex programs, including polyphonic ‘a cappella’ pieces and works by contemporary composers.
The repertoire of “Fortis” contains several concert programs of various content:
- “Praise Thee oh God” – includes Orthodox choral music;
- “In the light mood” – represents original arrangements of G. Purcell’s works, instrumental opuses by I. S. Bach, P. I. Tchaikovsky and other classical composers, arrangements of folk melodies and popular pop songs;
- “Ave Maria” – a program of the works by Western European composers, performed ‘a cappella’ and also accompanied by the organ;
- “St. Petersburg album” – the music by modern St. Petersburg composers: V. Gavrilin, S. Korolev, D. Smirnov, S. Pleshak.
The choir also has exclusive programs – the music by contemporary composers – the friends of “Fortis” choir – Andreas Kameris and Ekaterina Melnikova, whose works were performed in the concert hall of the Smolny Cathedral and in the Atrium of the General Staff Building of the State Hermitage Museum.
A special place in the group’s repertoire is occupied by arrangements of folk songs, favourite classical and popular music, created by the famous St. Petersburg composer-arranger and a friend of the group Mikhail Serkov.
“Fortis” leads a rich concert life in St. Petersburg and abroad. Since its foundation, the choir has visited international choral festivals in Novara, Italy (2010), Tampere, Finland (2012), Florence, Italy (2013), Tallinn, Estonia (2015), Cyprus (2016, 2018) and Calella, Spain (2014, 2018).
“Fortis” is pleased to maintain international contacts, initiates new friendly relations and is sure that creativity, especially choral singing unites people and makes them closer and kinder to each other.